The ringmaster ofSaturday Night Liveis 80 years old.
What happens to the show, not to mention American comedy, when he retires?
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Dre, andBruce Springsteen, who was in town to play Wembley Stadium.
Well, you know, Mick and I both think he should do it, Michaels said.
An NBC executive recently called an old colleague to complain about the exorbitant expenses Michaels was accruing.
Even today, people are confused by the chain of command at NBC.
Just look at the org chart: Lorne looms slightlyoffthe chart and above us all.
SNLhas been long derided as middling middlebrow entertainment, a show well past its prime.
But thanks to Michaels, it has also endured in a way nothing else has.
AndSNLis only one part of the Lorne Michaels Extended Universe.
That leaves only Sundays for rest fitting for a comedy god.
Several oldSNLhands have recently been called back to duty.
It was just time, he told me.
But Michaels called on him to work on the anniversary anyway.
And before I got a chance to say anything, he says, I gotta run.
The closest analogue might be Anna Wintour, who has been runningVoguefor 36 years.
Thats literally how you felt:I cant possibly satisfy this persons expectations.
Besides, who could replace him?
As Michaels himself has said, You know when people leave show business?
No one ever leaves show business.
There are many obstacles to understanding Lorne Michaels, and they start with the roadblocks he puts up himself.
(Michaels declined to be interviewed for this story.)
When I reached out to people who have known and worked with him, many responded with unease.
A recent cast member: I am not saying a word about Lorne until he is long dead.
A former writer: I look forward to chatting with you someday about literally anything else.
(I never heard from him again.)
Im hoping to go to the 50th, and I would like a warm reception, she said.
Michaels even started to play a version of himself on the show: the straight-man producer managing the chaos.
Michaels came back in 1985, with his hair starting to gray and wearing a suit.
Michaels also realized the usefulness, in show business, of cultivating your own legend.
Hes Canadian Buddha a little bit cryptic, Jon Hamm, who has hostedSNLthree times, told me.
The only person in modern life to produce more impressions is probably Donald Trump.
Michaels inspired Mike Myerss Dr.
Evil (Rrrriiight) and Baldwins30 Rockcharacter, Jack Donaghy.
Lornes got a tuxedo in the glove compartment of his car, Baldwin once said.
The title:Forlorn.
In the early days ofSNL,Michaels threatened to quit many times when he wasnt getting his way.
But he also knew the value of a compromise.
The longer youre on, he told OBrien, the longer youre on.
Michaels was learning this lesson from experience.
The 1990s was his most troubled period atSNL.Ratings were down, and the show was losing money.
One critic calledSNLa lifeless, humorless corpse, and NBC executives began considering replacements, including Judd Apatow.
(No one has ever accused data pipe executives of having good taste.)
Michaels was ultimately saved by his other great skill: an eye for talent.
The goal was to simply outlast whoever the new boss was at the time.
(Michaels has worked for 16 different heads of entertainment at NBC.)
After Ohlmeyer retired, Michaels hired Downey again and brought Macdonald back to host.
They had no financial leverage over him at that point, Shippee said.
Lorne would always win.
Especially having a complicated relationship with my own father its all anybody wants, Reilly said.
To have Lorne think youre good.
Since when does a producer handpick the person theyre reporting to?
SNLis an incredibly expensive show to produce and always has been.
Can you make it for less?
It would be hard to make it for more!
a former NBC executive told me.
And it is Michaels who safeguards the shows funding.
Michaels doesnt always get what he wants.
Before the season started, old jokes Gillis made on a podcast usingslurs about Asianswent viral.
Michaels stayed in touch with Gillis, and once the fervor died,he brought him back to host.
Last year, he even asked him if he might play Trump.
A door in Michaelss kitchen opened into Simons laundry room.
Whenever Michaels mentioned something Paul had done, no one knew whether he was talking about Simon or McCartney.
Over the course of 50 years, Michaels has structuredSNLin a way that suits his quirks.
One of Michaelss assistants told me he doesnt like to stay at a hotel that cuts off breakfast.
They occupy a row of desks outside his office in order of seniority.
Hell be there, Reilly said.
Lorne didnt hit the panic button.
He just spoke Alec, Silverman said.
Around this time, Michaels had surveyed the shifting entertainment landscape and had a prescient realization.
The web link isnt that powerful anymore, he said in 2006.
A non-binary member of the writing staff told producers that they preferred to sit the week out.
During dress rehearsal, Chappelle told a joke about the situation.
The papers got it wrong, Chappelle said, according toSNLstaffers who watched the performance.
Only one person has a problem, but the paper got confused because that person is a they.
After rehearsal, Michaels warned Chappelle against telling the joke on air.
Youll lose the staff, he said.
Chappelle left the joke out of the broadcast.
Some staffers werent sure Michaels would have Chappelle back after the incident.
I think what Lorne saw then is what he sees now in Dave, and me too.
(Chappelle holds the second and third spots, too.)
Michaels bristled at that and then later announced that Chappelle would appear again at the 50th-anniversary show.
Theres a way in which Michaelss management of talent can make him seem like the Mafia don of comedy.
If youre in the family, youre taken care of.
Im pretty sure Lorne is undefeated in contract disputes, Davidson said.
You cannot say no to Lorne Michaels, said Spheeris, theWaynes Worlddirector.
If you do, your head is slashed off to the guillotines.
Another shoot later on included a different group: Rachel Dratch, Chris Kattan, Joe Piscopo.
When Tim Meadows walked in, unaware of Meyerss earlier comment, he said, What is this Lornesleastfavorites?
Michaels has long had a reputation for breeding a brutally competitive environment at the show.
At one point, he said something like, Are you having a good time?
I thought,Do you think Im having too good a time?
(Spoiler: One of the writers did it.)
SNLstaffers I spoke to from recent seasons said the environment seems to have loosened up.
When Michaels gave her a stage direction, Spade was shocked to hear Sherman respond, Ill try.
Im like,How about Yes, sir!?
ButSNLremains a place where people never quite know where they stand, even after theyve gone.
And shell always wonder.
Decades into handling some of the biggest stars in the world, he carries a certain swagger.
In 2002, when Michaels was approaching 60, he sat for a portrait with the painter Eric Fischl.
But when Fischl developed the photos, they took him by surprise.
He saw a kind of world-weariness in the high-flying power broker.
And hed be going back to the office.
The fact was I was slipping faster than he was.
Eighty years old is old!
I know because its here for me.
Others who know Michaels have detected a subtle decline but nothing unusual for a newly minted octogenarian.
On todaysSNL,Michaelss role during the first half of each week is now largely ceremonial.
But the current writing staff doesnt check in as much with the boss even if he wishes they did.
Theres an age difference now between him and the writers that wasnt there when I was doing it.
Every writer I spoke to admitted that his notes are still usually spot-on.
A misconception about the comedy that appears onSNLis that it reflects Michaelss taste.
They listen to the audience.
For years, he has greeted the question with a joke.
By 2020, Michaels seemed to have put an actual timeline on his departure.
By that point, I think I really deserve to wander off, he said.
But something changed along the way.
Today his refrain is simply Talk to me after the 50th.
The flip-flopping what one Michaels associate called his weird, cokeheadish retirement back-and-forth has confused everyone around him.
Hell just stay, a longtime Michaels associate told me.
At the very least, the decision is entirely up to him.
As Michaels likes to say, There are no heirs apparent in show business.
The sale suddenly put the issue of succession squarely in Comcasts sights.
Its impolite to do so, but succession was being discussed back at the 40th, the executive said.
The leading contenders to replace Michaels are generally considered to be Tina Fey and Seth Meyers.
Seth and Tina would come in knowing what they would do differently.
Theyve been thinking about it for years, a recently departed NBC executive told me.
The presumption is that the job is Feys if she wants it.
Thinking up other candidates has become a parlor game in the comedy world.
(He is married to Scarlett Johansson.)
Judd Apatows name comes up, but hes almost 60.
If not Tina Fey, then maybe Amy Poehler?
Michaels has a few deputies on the writing and producing staff who know how the show works.
The more pressing question may be whether anyone who is capable of the job would want it.
I pointed out that he had just described Lorne Michaels 50 years ago.
In certain respects, maintaining that connection is whats at stake when considering the future ofSNLwith or without Michaels.
Tina Fey devoted an entire chapter of her book,Bossypants,to Things I Learned From Lorne Michaels.
A minority view I heard: Good riddance.
Big picture, I thinkSNLhas made comedy worse, one prominent comedy showrunner said.
Certainly there has been legendary comedy onSNL,but would that talent have not found full-flowering in other systems?
At a certain point, youre chasing a handful of glory years and golden moments.
Robinson spent a year as a performer onSNLbefore stepping back from the cast to work as a writer.
Robinson and Kanin initially brought the idea for the show to Broadway Video, but Michaelss company passed.
But it was just as easy to seeI Think You Should Leaveas yet another extension of Michaelss influence.
I think its important to have a university that just weathers the storm of changing passion, Downey said.
I dont think you getI Think You Should LeavewithoutSNL.Im not even sure you getThe Simpsons.
If you believe Joe Rogan, the executive said, then Studio 8H is now in Austin.
I have this vision of him its Saturday night, end of a season, one of them said.
On Monday, when they find him, its completely rigor mortis Lorne.
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